The interdepartmental major and minor in medieval studies provide students
at Smith College with an opportunity
to study the civilization of medieval Europe from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Subjects that belong today to separate academic disciplines were rarely
so separated in the Middle Ages, and it is therefore appropriate that students
be given an opportunity to bring these subjects together again. The great
diversity of regional cultures in medieval Europe was balanced by a conscious
attempt to hold to a unified view of the world that embraced religious
and social ideals, Latin and vernacular literature, and music and the visual
arts.

The medieval studies major and minor provide the students with an opportunity
to recreate for themselves, through courses in a variety of related disciplines,
an understanding of the unity and of the diversity of European civilization
in the Middle Ages. The medieval studies major and minor are designed so
that they can form valuable complements to a major or minor in one of the
participating departments.